1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to electronic chat networks, and in particular, to methods and systems for sharing digital media while electronically chatting over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Using the Internet and World Wide Web, or other networks, many people today communicate via “chat rooms”. Chat rooms provide a real time virtual forum for interaction among individuals that may be at disparate geographical locations throughout the world. So long as the participants are properly connected to the network and service facilitating the “chat”, the individuals can communicate conversationally in real time (the term “chat” is broadly defined herein to mean real time communications between two or more users, and thus is meant to encompass chat rooms, instant messaging, etc.). This interaction can take place via a standard Web browser interface, using a computer or other such enabled device. The information exchanged during the “chat” is typically text-based, using some chat applications, may also include static or dynamic audio data, graphic images such as “emoticons”, or some combination thereof.
However, many of these conventional chat applications are slow, cumbersome, and do not show the shared images inline with the corresponding chat text.